About Me
Welcome! I am Zeyu Chen (Wade-Giles: “Tsê-yü Ch’ên”), a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Tsinghua University’s Institute of International and Area Studies (IIAS), where I have the fortunate opportunity to be supervised by Professor Su Yu-Sung.
Starting from September 2026, I am delighted to join the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi as a Research Associate. I welcome collaboration and research partnerships.
I am a comparative political scientist specializing in African politics. My research examines how governments respond to and manage political and developmental crises—and how crisis conditions reshape state capacity and state–society relations in sub-Saharan Africa. I employ causal inference, computational social science methods, and formal theory to analyze these dynamics. My work draws on fieldwork, quantitative analysis, and engagement with policy questions to provide insights into institutional adaptation and political change.
Beyond academic research, I have worked with international organizations including IFAD, UNDP, and OECD, where I gained practical understanding of development policy and international governance. These experiences inform my research on how international cooperation interacts with domestic political institutions.
As mountains have their proud array,
So have I mine own measured way.